Taupombledon 2009

The competitive spirit was warmed up for the second time this (in)famous tournament was to be played on NZ shores with the great linguistic Taupombledon vs Taupimbledon debate. The o's won it, for no more reason than it rolls off the tongue better...and it's printed on the scoreboard.

Friday was accompanied by the usual bemoaning of the Wellingtonians about the drive up - you all choose to live in that hemmed in backwater ;-)

But normal order was quickly restored once the keg was tapped and the beer was flowing. A nice little surprise for the Friday night - a half keg of Kid Chocolate left over from the Auckland beer festival. The traditional bacon sarnie fry-up was held sometime after midnight, and the last of us trickled off to bed at - a probably unwise - sometime after 3am.

Despite the forecast for some showers from the summerless south, Taupo managed to put on another perfect day for tennis - not too hot, not too cold. A new element to the tournament was unveiled, creche corner - where more athletic ability was probably displayed than on court. Of course, the tennis once again took a back seat to the real purpose of the day - the drinking - a keg of Emersons Pilsner for the boys (perhaps a little too hoppy to accompany a day of tennis), and punch for the girls (minus 2).

But there has to be a winner on the day - and this year, finally, Rae & Tom managed to pick up the title to their own tournament. I think they were quietly chuffed, and there might have even been some subtle fist-pumping at the back of the court. Of course, the final game of tennis does no mean a halt to proceedings, as the trophy quickly becomes the object of attention with a game of "tennis-ball-soccer-header". This may go down as one of the best games ever, extending to a marathon 7 sets.

Post the BBQ dinner, the night finished much earlier this year - perhaps the influence of the kiddies, perhaps the extra strength in the Pilsner, perhaps we are all just getting older...

But still another great Taupombledon weekend.

City Chasing

On Saturday Tom and I took part in the inaugural ANZ City Chase. It drew more than 300 teams into an adventure which ranged from the North Shore's Devonport to the eastern waterfront's Okahu Bay.

The event was the first in New Zealand and the 300 teams made it the largest first time event per capita for any country that has a City Chase event. The winning team completed ten of the twenty chase points in 2hrs 9mins - a fair bit faster than Tom and I. But we were just in it for fun, and we had plenty of that.

Teams must travel only by foot or approved local public transport - bus, ferry or train, and stay within 25m of each other at all times. Any other methods of transportation, including any form of private transportation, bicycle, car, taxi, motorcycle, rollerblades, hang glider, magic carpet, camel and rickshaw were strictly prohibited

Tom and I finished down the pack in what was still a respectable 3hrs 40mins, well inside the deadline of 6 hours. Our biggest hindrance time-wise was heading over to Devonport to claim the chased points there - all of the top teams stayed on the southern side of the harbour. However, as a result they missed out on the best task of the day.

The Chase started off down at the Viaduct with an impromptu task. You couldn't get your Clue Sheet until you brought back two of - an ATM receipt, some foreign currency, or a coin from 1993. This set off a mad dash by all competitors, with every tourist (or anyone who looked like a tourist) hassled for change. This too longer than you think - even more frustrating that I had been to an ATM just 20 minutes earlier - but of course, no receipt.

Finally, with Clue Sheet in hand, Tom and I thought the best plan of attack would be head across to Devonport, where 5 of the tasks were located very close together. We weren't the only ones, as the first ferry was crowded by other teams with the same thought. Though the short trip gave us an opportunity to strategise - and also call Anna to google some of the clues.

Our first chase point proved simple enough. At Devonport Chocolates, we simply had to wrap a couple of chocolates to their approval - and we got to keep the chocolates.

Close by was our second task, which was to paint each other's faces to match the pictures. We choose what look to be easiest - the Dalmatian. Mistake was to let Tom go first, he was trying to make my face perfect and absolutely caked my face with paint. After looking at what some of the other efforts were given approval, I realised all I need to was randomly put some white and black paint on Tom's face and it would be fine.

Caked in paint, we headed off to the next stop, which was the "special ANZ Chase menu". This proved to be rolling a dice and having to eat a grub or insect. They were quite small so ended up pretty easy, the worst seemed to be the crickets and fortunately neither of us rolled those.

We now had a bit of a march to North Head where a queue had built up waiting for buckets. Fortunately I had a VIP pass, which enabled us to jump the queue - go to be some benefits working for the sponsor! We had to carry two buckets of water from the beach to the top of the Head and then complete a mental task with the water. I had seen it before, so it proved quite easy. However, the combination of all this running and and the sun meant we had quite a sweat on - not that great when you have a paint face!

We not just had one last task in Devonport - and this was the best of the day. We had to head in the Naval Base, where we had to done overalls and life jacket - all to the orders of a young drill sergeant. We then boarded the frigate Te Mana and had to leap from the side into the harbour, and the scale the ladder up the side back onto the frigate. It was absolutely awesome and if I had thought about it then, I would have done it again. It's not every day you get to jump off the side of a naval frigate.

With 5 Chase Points down, we were pretty chuffed with ourselves, and even had enough time for a pie and a coke before the ferry left to go back into the city (what we didn't know was that the winning team was finishing as we were chowing down!).

Back in the city, a short sprint to Britomart, where we soon found ourselves trying to find a stranger to sing Split Enz's I See Red with us.

It was then a short wait to take us up to Parnell, where we had to find a park to answer some questions about the ANZ Netball Championship and then shoot some hoops.

We then thought we were making our way across to the Parnell Rose Gardens, which we thought were an answer to another clue. However, on arriving we quickly realised we got that one wrong and there was no one else in sight! Fortunately, this was en route to the Parnell Baths anyway, which was definitely a correct answer. This involved swimming a length of the Parnell baths herding blow up sheep. A little unusual, but Tom and I aced this, even having to wait for a couple of young guys who we caught up, who couldn't control their sheep.

We were on the home straight now and only had two last Chase Points to collect, with plenty of options Downtown.

At the Ice Bar, there was the simple task of bobbing for of ice cubes. Though a little surreal with some tourists drinking cocktails out of ice glasses next to you (though why they are in the Ice Bar in the middle of the day, I do not know?).

Our tenth and last Chase Point was then just across in the Maritime Museum, which we had to scour for answers to a question sheet. Then it was a sprint (more a half-walk/half-jog by that stage) of about 200 metres to the finish at O'Hagans pub - and a much welcomed beer.

It was an awesome event and I cannot recommend it more highly for anyone who wants something fun to do next year.

Kai Iwi Lakes (Northland)

Photos here

Ever since Brad & Shaz mentioned stumbling upon this awesome lakes when they tripped around Northland last year, I've been wanting make my way up to the Kai Iwi Lakes. With a long weekend on offer because of Waitangi Day, Anna and I headed up with Rae & Tom to check them out.

Resisting Rae & Tom's urge to leave before the sun came up "to beat traffic", we left at a reasonable hour and got up there in less than 3 hours. We first travelled along the new Northern Gateway Tollroad, which has received a fair bit of press since it opened. What a load of kerfuffle though. It is brilliant - cutting off at least 15 minutes (and probably more on long weekends such as this) with the bypassing of Orewa - though I wonder if the Dairies and Service Stations of Orewa are so thrilled by it. And for those idiots who complain about the queues to pay by the cash toll booths (though there weren't any when we went through) - you should try making it to the 21st century and pay by internet, it's so damn easy.

Skipping the thrills and sights of the infamous Kauri Museum (Anna and I are still scarred by the experience of having to follow Julie many years ago as she inspected every bit of timber and Kauri gum - and trust me, there is a lot of it), it was just a brief stop at Dargaville (and you don't want it to be any longer than 'brief') and we dropped off our stuff at the bach we had hired at Omariri Beach, just 10 minutes from the lakes. It didn't take us long to get to the lakes from there, and it didn't take us long to be wowed by the lakes themselves.

The Kai Iwi Lakes are lakes that have been formed by rainwater in depressions of sand dunes. This combines to make what is for me the best swimming spot I have ever been to in New Zealand. The lake is crystal clear and surround by soft sand, and the main swimming beach is just superb. It has a shelf that is waist deep which stretches out for 50 metres before suddenly dropping away steeply. The shelf is perfect for mucking around - and especially for throwing and catching a tennis ball (which Tom and I engaged in for hours). A group of guys had also erected scaffolding (not OSH approved that's for sure) right on the edge of the shelf with about a 5 metre jump into the deep. And if you got bored of that, you could simply go for a proper swim off the shelf.

The strange thing - to me anyway - was that the lake wasn't busier. Sure, there were plenty of people there - but I was surprised it wasn't packed. And it seemed that most people there seemed to be tourists (and mostly English tourists at that) - the lakes obviously must be on the Lonely Planet trail. Now that I know they are there, I will be definitely planning return trips whenever there is weather that is as good as we had that weekend (it was hot and we hardly saw a cloud in the sky the whole time).

So three days up north, and three days spent at the lakes. Though in the Saturday we did go for a drive further north to Hokianga Harbour, stopping in to check out Tane Mahuta - which Rae hadn't seen before. All in all, a great long weekend away. We arrived back on Sunday afternoon to an Auckland that was still baking, so had to head to the beach straight away. However, this has been followed by a week of weather as humid as I can remember - including the hottest temperature recorded in Auckland for over 100 years, and sticky nights where the low one night was recorded at 22.1 degrees (not comfortable). If only I could pop down to the lakes...

Downhilling it at Tongariro

It was Auckland Anniversary weekend and we headed down to National Park for some mountain biking with the pub quiz crew from Auckland. Heading down there on the Saturday morning, the weather couldn't have been much better.

That afternoon we road down the Fishers Track - which starts just out the back of National Park. It is 20-odd km of mostly downhill, some of it dirt and some of it grass. The first part took is through chutes of Toi Tois before having to navigate quite a tricky slippery mud and rock path. This then opened out into mostly grassy paths that were heaps of fun. The most amazing part of the track was that it appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, with awesome views over native bush. The track itself involves a 500m descent, but fortunately you are not required to ascend back up (though you could if you wanted and were crazy enough). The alternative (and very wise it is too) is to book the pick-up bus to meet you at the end and take you back up to National Park where a much needed beer awaits.

The next day we got up early to ride the 42 Traverse. This again is a mostly downhill ride of around 45kms, though with a couple of descent climbs. This time you get dropped off at the start by the bus and again get returned from the bottom. Most of the trail is a mix of fire breaks and track and again surrounded by nothing but native bush. The downhills are long and pretty quick, and your hands and feet are pretty sore by the time you get to the bottom of them. There are also some stream crossings at the bottom of the descents - where admittedly Anna showed me how it is meant to be done (though, in my defense, I got some bad advise beforehand).

But it wasn't all fun and games. With no clouds in the sky and little wind, the climbs back up were a good workout. But at least this gave me the chance to get one back on the more experienced mountain bikers, as I left them behind churning up the hills - they left me behind on the downhills, so had to get them back somewhere. It was still damn hard work though, and at the top of the two hills we all needed well earned breaks and to cool down from boiling point. The reward at the end is a dip in a swimming hole - freezing cold melt water from Ruapahu just what the legs need after a good ride. The bus arrives just at the right time, this time with beers on board - you beaut!

And all this is done with enough time to drive back to Auckland that night. A damn fun and easy weekend away, we'll be doing it again. Especially now that Anna has since ditched the hire bikes and bought herself a shiny new MTB.

Some picks from the two days here.

A Day at the Tennis

Courtesy of the shareholders and customers of a certain bank, I spent the day court side at the finals of the NZ Heineken Open. The tennis was good, the beer was pretty bad.

The men's single final involved top seed and number 9 in the world - Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro - versus namesake American Sam Querrey. With Del Potro playing, this gave me the chance to dust off my faux Puma's top and go a bit latino.

As you can see, the view from the corporate box wasn't too bad - though with the sun out it got pretty hot. What to do...give the wave and order more drinks. Though things didn't go so smoothly around lunch time. Having just been served our lunch towards the end of the 1st Set, a first serve fault very nearly rebounded straight into my crispy pork belly. Before I knew what had happened, a work colleague behind me tossed the offending ball back onto court. Problem was, the second serve had just been sent down. This didn't do much to endear us to Mr Del Potro, who was at the receiving end at the time. Mutterings of Spanish were quickly sent in our direction - probably just as well that they appeared to be outside my five and a half word Spanish vocabulary. Fortunately my pork belly wasn't threatened any further in the match, and Del Potro won comfortably in two sets, 6-4 6-4.

Once the tennis was finished, we retired to the 'Base Line After Party', which included a pretty awesome set from Liam Finn, and a whole lot of terrible middle-aged dancing.

Mike & Iris - wedded at last

You know the story

Boy meets girl...
Boy and girl play boyfriend-girlfriend for 15 years...
Boy and girl get married...
Boy and girl foolishly leave drunk friend with camera at wedding reception...

It's a Posso Christmas

Foregoing the usual Christmas demands, I have stayed back in Auckland this year all by myself. Marvellous!

After a few drinks out in Ponsonby last night, it was a bit of a sleep-in before heading out on an 80km morning ride. Returning, I began preparing a Posso Christmas feast - a Christmas Curry. First course was Squid in a spicy spinach sauce. This was followed by a Paresee Chicken Curry, served with brown rice and paratha. Both were delicious, and washed down with a taste-off of 2007 and 2008 vintages of Cooper's Strong Ale. I'm just savouring the last of the 2008 vintage right now.

And I'll be heading off later to join some fellow Christmas orphans (though these are legitimate ones - most are all from the UK) to have a few more drinks.

The perfect Posso Christmas - no tree, no presents, , no travel, no fuss, no stress. Marvellous!

The Gatts Stag Do

A long time coming, but time has been in short supply of late.

Mike's Stag started off sedately enough, as 25 likely lads (and some more senior lads) congregated at 7 Cuba Street for a nourishing breakfast of beer and bacon sarnies. Everyone look respledent in their whites, and Mike especially in the special outfit acquired for him - grandpa pants, walk socks, and sandal; topped off by his pink 'drinking-gumboot' he was to drink from during the day.

Prior to hopping on the bus at 11am, Mike had one last task - one last bacon sarnie and beer. The twist was that this bacon sarnie and beer was combined in the food processor. Looking like a 'delicious' brown sludge, Mike took his medicine like a true man...in small sips. In a show of support, Steve and I tried to help him out, and I can report - it wasn't good (JT had gone overboard with the BBQ sauce and the bread was still lumpy).

Rounded up on the bus along with a good supply of liquid refreshments, we took this party over the hill to the Wairarapa. Destination...Greytown Bowling Club. Suprisingly for the Wairarapa the weather was overcast and drizzly, but this didn't deter us all from getting out on the green. The old boys from the Club were pretty excited to have us there and did their best to get us into some kind of order. Hastily organising into teams - with the brief embaressment of fortgetting to include the man-of-honour - we set about a mini tournament for the afternoon. It bowls itself was of mixed quality, with a few wrong biases thrown in for good measure. I can't remember who the winning team was, which is as much to say it wasn't mine.
There was a breif intermission as the weather turned a bit nastier. Perfect timing though to stop for the BBQ that the bowling club boys put on for us - complete with potatoes, salad, the works. They really did go out of the way for us. It was at this stage that Mike also finally got the chance to relieve himself - he wasn't allowed to go until all 24 for us gone at least once - Joe being his nemesis for some time. The bowling wrapped up around 4.30pm and we bid the old boys from the bowling club farewell.












Next stop was the 'Top Pub' in Greytown, where they had said they would put on some snacks in return for our patronage. With the sun finally coming out and a few beers already under the belt, it looked as if things were going to slow down. But sitting along a long bench table, someone had the bright idea to have a boat race. One boast race turned out to be a best of three, as male pride took over. Different styles were clearly evident - from the Ian Poss pour it down my top, the Daygs sip it like it is a hot cup of coffee, to the John Albertson now you see it now you don't single gulp. There's nothing like a bit of competition to lift male spirits, and soon enough the Stag was in full swing again.
After a final stop off at the Tin Hut - which is a lot more upmarket than it once was and probably not the best destination for a Stag Do already 9 hours into it - we finally made our way back with a very grumpy bus driver behind the wheel. Making a fee drop-offs on the way, we finally reached Courtenay Place with about half of the original contingent, who wisely or unwisely were continuing on. By this stage I was amazed the Stag was still standing, let alone able to carry on. He had taken a bit of a hammering earlier in the afternoon, and by my count must have been made to have 10 shots by then. I'm sure the rest of the night must get pretty fuzy for Mike from then on...









Probably just as well, as the story goes something along the lines of visiting an establishment of the sort that is predominantly of male partonage and having his chest stripped and lit on fire by a modestly dressed young lady. But if you can't remember Mike, did it really happen?

The Stag finally clocked out around midnight, a damn fine showing. I think he even started feeling human again by the Tuesday...

Aussie Trip

Here are some pics from our two week trip in Australia at the beginning of December.
Pics
We flew into Melbourne for two days there - and I will always begrudge Qantas the two hour delay that robbed me of at an awesome beer pub we went to on the first night - also catching up with Vicki. We then picked up our hire car and spent three days driving along the Great Ocean Road - where the scenery was spectacular, and the small towns quiet (we were just beating the summer holidays rush). We then had two days in the Grampians National Park, where we did a couple of hikes.

We then crossed over to South Australia - destination the wine regions around Adelaide. First was a couple of nights in the Barossa, and a lot of money spent on food and wine. We then had a couple of nights in the more picturesque McLaren Vale, where we stayed in an old chapel. We had our last two days in Adelaide - where we showed our typical knack of bringing rain to parched places, they had their first full day of rain for over a year.

It was a great couple of weeks - saw some awesome scenery and spent far too much money. We haven't missed the flies though - they drive you bonkers. Kangaroos and koalas are meant to be the national animals, but it should be flies and magpies!

2 times as fun

Yeah right!

Some of you will be aware that Stu and I took on the crazy challenge of doing the Round Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, not just one, but twice. Known as the Enduro, it involves 2 laps of the 160km course.

Work, children (Stu's, not mine!), and laziness conspired to leave us typically under prepared for such an undertaking. Though it is difficult to know how much training you do need for such an event. Plenty of time on the saddle of course, though too much training and you would only leave your legs tired for the big day. Both of us only managed one ride over 200km, and were at best riding three times a week. So maybe on a bright note, our legs were well rested. And who really wants to go for training rides in the middle of the night anyway?

Not that we could avoid it for the ride though. A 1.30am start makes for difficult preparation. Was good to receive the text's of good luck, though not so much the ones sent after 8pm! I'm starting at 1.30am people, what do you think I'm trying to do....

Alarm went off at 12.30am, after a wonderful 45 minutes sleep (that's sarcasm by the way). Bit of a surreal feeling really, trying to take down some 'breakfast') is it still breakfast at that time and think that you've got a big ride ahead of you. JT and Steve got up to see us off (well, JT didn't have a choice seeing he was sleeping in the lounge), as Stu and I headed off in our layers and lights.

Down at the start line there were about 50 entrants or so. Some crazy guy was doing his 20th Enduro, and Colin Anderson, the doyen of the Taupo Cycle Challenge was there also (he's done 48 laps of the course in all, or something like that). Blissfully, we couldn't have asked for better conditions. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, plenty of stars, and very little wind. At the start, it was difficult to know what to do. Some guys took off, obviously going for a time, and I quickly learnt that there was no point trying to look behind to try and see where Stuey was, as you were just blinded by the lights.

Stu and I quickly found ourselves in a good group (which was of much relief), maybe of about 25 riders, which pretty much stayed together for the first 100kms of the first lap. It set a good pace as well, and certainly helped the night to pass quickly. The first 20kms is pretty much a steady climb, and this quickly got the body temp up. In fact, Stu and I thought at one stage that we had perhaps over dressed. However, once we got around the back of the Lake and down into a few misty vales, the cold really started bite. Especially on the downhills, when I really rued forgetting my long-fingered bike gloves as my fingers turned to popsicles.

I did have a small problem when one of my rangi lights started to come off my handlebars. Wasn't an issue though, as I hardly needed my lights anyway. Some of the riders seemed to have attached car lamps to their bikes they were giving off so much light. So Stu and I chatted away and spent quite a bit of time at the front of the group. The only difficult thing to contend with was trying to eat every now and then - a sports gel isn't that appetising for your stomach at 3am.

The split in the group finally came down the hill towards Turangi with about 50kms to go. Stu and I found ourselves going off the front with five other riders. For some unknown reason the seven of us decided that we were going to push hard (four of us really, we did the work as the other three sat behind and took the benefit). For the next 30kms to Hatepe Hill we would have averaged 35kph - maybe it was a wave of delusion at the sight of sunlight? Arriving at Hatepe we were buggered - and we only had ourselves to blame. It was a pretty slow crawl up there, and Stu and I both felt rubbish for the last 20km down into Taupo - not how you want to feel knowing you have to do it all again.

Though going past lots of riders in Taupo as they headed to the start line peaked the spirits, especially their reactions when you explained to them that you had already done one lap. We were both very much looking forward to a bit down and a change of clothes though. The lap clocked in at 5hrs37mins - around half an hour faster than I thought we would do it in. Back at the unit, we faffed about a bit. We both had a feed and Stu had a shower (I decided to give that a skip as thought it might throw out the body temperature a bit). The couch got a little comfortable for a while there, so we didn't finally get out again until after around an hour.

The downside of all that faffing though was that we missed meeting up with Anna at the start line. That meant we had to chase her down for the first 20kms. Not what the legs had wanted. And probably not want the riders at the back of the field want, seeing yellow-capped Enduro riders going past them. It was much to our relief when we finally did catch up with Anna. We then settled down into a comfortable pace and tried to enjoy the second - much warmer and sunnier - lap.

And it was enjoyable. Stu and I both could have gone faster - but we would have felt pretty average to have done so. We often found ourselves riding at the front of a group and a comfortable pace, ensuring Anna was getting a good draft. Admittedly, towards the end of the second lap the backside was getting pretty tired - but it had spent 12 hours on the saddle by then, so it is fair enough.

The final near mishap came just before Hatepe Hill. I had noticed since Turangi that my back wheel seemed to be sliding around a bit. It got worse and worse as I approached Hatepe, but I wanted to ignore it as the only thing I could think it might be was a slow flat, and replacing a tube was the last thing I felt like doing (it was sticking hot by now). But I eventually had to stop and told Anna and Stu to go ahead and I would catch up. Sure enough, the back tyre was pretty flat by now. But with 25km to go, I decided to just try and pump it up and hope that it was just a slow leak. Jumped back on and chased Anna up Hatepe Hill. I felt surprisingly good (the flat coke was kicking in now), and I must have passed hundreds of riders up the hill (they must have been thinking "what the....!"). Meet up with Stu and Anna at the top of Hatepe and happened to see someone with a floor pump. Hooked it up to my back tyre and it was only inflated to 40psi! Managed to pump it up a bit more, but no more than 60 psi, and decided to hope for the best.

And it all worked out. We enjoyed the final 20km down into Taupo (apart from some little kid who kept on trying to take us out), by now all three of us were high on flat coke, so we probably felt the best we had all day. We crossed the line together, Stu and I clocking up 13hrs19mins - though with only around 12hrs of actual riding.

And Anna - she clocked in at 6hrs36mins, an awesome time for her - I had been thinking around 7hrs. She didn't enjoy the first half - but then no one does the first time, those hills just keep on rolling - but by the end she was wanting to come back. Brad also did awesome for his first time around, at5hrs15mins. And looks like we have a few more interested for next year - with Sharon and JT on the look out for road bikes.

And will I be doing the Enduro again? Well, definitely not next year. I actually enjoyed the ride, though I wouldn't half done so half as much without Stu's company the whole way. It is the training that is tough. So will be pack to the single lap next year, train with Anna to get her under 6hrs, and maybe look to go under 5hrs myself for the first time. At the very least I'll be looking forward to getting up at reasonable times for training rides.

Paparazzo Posso

You might remember our trip to Motuihe Island back in June. Not long after that trip, I saw that the Motuihe Trust was running a Photo Competition and I entered a few of the photos I took from that day. Well, it turns out that this photo of ours won the Landscape category. And it was only taken with our small Canon digital.

Apparently we have won a Ricoh digital camera - a funny prize considering we obviously already have a digital camera. But pretty cool to know that a photo I took was selected.

U17 Women's Football

On Saturday I took the opportunity to attend a game of one the more significant sporting tournaments to be held in NZ...the inaugural U17 Women's Football World Cup. And well worth it was.

The NZ girls were playing their second match against Denmark - after narrowly losing 1-0 to Canada in their opening match. And after having 13000 spectators turn up for that game, there was an incredible 12000 turn up for this second match. Amazing numbers when you consider that recent rugby matches haven't been able to pull anything near those numbers. And the girls didn't disappoint.

Considering these girls were under 17, the skill level was very impressive. They may have not had the speed or the weight on some of the shots and passes, but there was a lot of skill on the ball. But most of all, it was enjoyable watching athletes who were playing their game for the love of their sport. There was no theatrics, no show-ponies, no prima donna's. The game was free-flowing and competitive, not based upon constantly-changing and over-complicated rules.

Unfortunately the NZ girls lost the game 2-1, though they were very unlucky (as in their first game), not to tie it up in the frenetic final 10 minutes. The only disappointment was on the final whistle when - as after their first game - most of the NZ team broke down. It wasn't so much the tears that disappointed me - these girls are only 16 after all - but the lack of congratulating of the other team. But again, this probably just reflects the passion these girls had for their sport, something we don't usually see on our rugby fields these days.

So a very enjoyable afternoon of spectating - and I walked away think rugby could learn a lot from this tournament - both in terms of the quality of sport on the field, and also the treatment of the fans (a game played in the afternoon, and tickets only $10). For those of you who bothered to watch the - from all accounts - boring rugby test later that night, you should have switched your TVs on 6 hours earlier.

Auckland-to-Hamilton: The Hard Way

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/new-zealand/ponsonby/237143783170

And by "hard", am I referring to the fact that I biked it the long way - 170km in all - in preparation of the Lake Taupo Enduro (2 laps = 320km)? Is it the fact that I left at 5am to get some nighttime riding practice in? Am I referring to several showers I got caught in on the way down? Maybe the several freshly laid sections of chip seal that I had to ride over (one at least a couple of km long)? Or perhaps I am referring the attach of the magpie, who I just managed to because it's pre-dive squawk made me look up with enough time to duck as it zeroed in on my head? Could it also be when my back light came off after riding over a railway line, and subsequently just before I went to pick it up, some van drove straight over the top of it? Was it my aching shoulders and back? Or even worse, the welts on my backside from the stitching on my bike pants (despite having wearing the same bike pants on many occasions and never having a problem with them)?

No, it was none of those...

The main reason this ride was "hard" was because, despite living in a land that is supposedly dominated by winds of a north-westerly persuasion; and heading on a ride that will particularly benefit from such favourable climatic conditions; I had to spend most of the six and a half hours plowing straight into a bloody southerly! Not only is it physically tiring and slows you down (I could only just manage 20kph on some straights), but worst of all it drives you bloody bonkers. In the end I let Anna rescue me from my torment, picking me up 5km from my destination.

Of no relief was Stu's text telling me it was "character building". I'll be reminding his advise as I sit on his wheel as he plows into the wind coming off Mt Tongario at 4am on the morning of November 29!

World Famous in New Zealand

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4717117a13.html

And if that looks like a big grin, that's because it is about the 50th I have had to pull! Taken at the "commercial launch" of Pot Kettle Black, at Bar Edward in Newtown (Wellington). Was a successful night, the first keg on the Yeastie Boys went very quick, and we weren't far off going through the second. And it was tasting delicious off the hand pump again.

Plenty of inquiries from the article - which was seen as widely as Marlborough and the Hawkes Bay, as well as being feature article in the Business section of the Dominion Post. Not a bad start for the Yeastie Boys...

BrewNZ & Beervana '08

This was it, the first time Yeastie Boys went public - at BrewNZ, NZ's annual beer awards and Beervana festival.

Unfortunately there was no award for us. The low down is that though the judges enjoyed our Pot Kettle Black – and it made it to the second round – ultimately it was not considered for an award as it was deemed that it wasn’t entered in the right style. Apparently it should have been entered as an ‘International Porter’, rather than as the 'American Brown Ale' we entered it as. Word is that if we had entered it as an ‘International Porter’, it is likely we would have won a medal of some description. So that is a bit of a bugger, and I guess is a beginner's mistake we can learn from.

However, it was a good night for Steve Nally and Invercargill Brewery - who we brewed Pot Kettle Black with - as it took two best in class awards, for his golden lager 'Biman', and with his Boysenbeery. Well deserved. But it was Tuatara that took out the Champion Brewery award.

But it is the opinions of the punters that really matters, and it was at Beervana that Yeastie Boys was a huge hit. I don’t think it could have gone any better. Got such awesome feedback from so many people. Many were shocked at the taste and how it challenged their perception of what a porter should taste like. The most brilliant was the guy who, after taking his first sip, told me that we were “fucked up” and that the beer was "weird"…and then proceeded to have 3 glasses in about 15 minutes. Lots of people said it was the best beer they had tasted on the night and wanted to know where they could get.

The story was a real hit as well. Everyone loved the local flavour (a piece of genius having us labelled as 'Wellington') and the fact that we were just starting out, contracting brewing recipes from the backyard shed, and still in our day jobs. The ‘Yeastie Boys’ branding worked a treat as well, pulling people in and getting a lot of comments.

A lot of credit also needs to go to the 'marketing team' that was out on the floor. There were Yeast-T's everywhere, telling people where to go and try Pot Kettle Black. Lots of other stalls had fancy set ups, but this viral advertising was the coup of the night I think. People were tracking us down. We should have had some Yeast-T's for sale, everybody wanted to buy one.

We went through 2 full kegs over the two days in the end. We couldn’t have got through much more. I would say that would have been the most of any single beer sold. And if they had a Beervana public vote for most popular beer, I would have been surprised if Pot Kettle Black didn’t win it.

But this all came at a cost – my feet! I was absolutely beat. It was hard work for a desk jockey like myself. I pretty much manned the stall the whole time, so I pretty much stood for 2 days straight – when I went for lunch on the Saturday I literally couldn’t walk on my heals. And I pretty much talked myself hoarse – it was just a constant talk fest with the punters. I could hardly lift my arms they are so sore from lifting and moving kegs and boxes. This manual labour and customer service is hard work!! And most surprisingly, I hardly drunk any beer myself, I just didn’t get the chance.

So it was a great debut for the Yeastie Boys, it was a shame Stuey wasn't there to share in it. Since then we've already had orders for at least half our kegs, and there have been enquiries at places about when they are going to have it in. So now the planning starts for the follow up to Pot Kettle Black. At the moment we are thinking a low strength bitter for summer, and doubling the batch size. Hopefully it will go down as well as the Pot Kettle Black.

Some photos of the Beervana on the Friday night and an indication of how much the Yeastie Boys 'marketing team' enjoyed themselves...

Yeastie Boys: Live In Wellington
Media release: Yeastie Boys
25/08/2008

New kids on the brewing block, Yeastie Boys, will launch their hoppy Pot Kettle Black porter at the Beervana festival on 5 September, Yeastie Boys co-founder Stu McKinlay announced today.

‘Pot Kettle Black is the result of a friendly debate I had with Wellington beer writer Neil Miller over whether hops or malt is the most important element in beer,’ said Stu.

‘I’m all about malt, while Neil is a certifiable hop head. Pot Kettle Black, the first release from Yeastie Boys, is an American-style porter that combines the delicious elements of dark malty beers with the huge hopping rates usually reserved for modern craft pale ales. This beer will certainly save us a plenty of time arguing at the bar.’

In true Kiwi style, Yeastie Boys' recipes all originate from a 40 litre pilot brewery in a Wellington backyard shed. ‘Operating on such a small scale there was little chance of the beer making it any further than ourselves and those in the know, until we partnered with multiple award-winning brewer Steve Nally of Invercargill Brewery to produce our first batch of commercial beer,’ said Yeastie Boy Sam Possenniskie.

‘Part of the Yeastie Boys concept is to utilise the excess capacity of New Zealand's best little breweries and to promote the diversity in New Zealand’s craft beer scene. Steve, being one of the best experimental brewers in the country, is the perfect partner and mentor for us to produce our first beer with.’

Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black is only available on tap for a limited time. It will be available at the upcoming BrewNZ "Beervana" festival, and at selected outlets specialising in craft beer from early September. For more information on availability see www.yeastieboys.co.nz.

Rather than a hip-hop tribute band made up of gynecologists, as the name may suggest, Yeastie Boys is the brewing brainchild of local brewer Stu McKinlay and New Zealand's most notorious beer hunter Sam "The Grandmaster" Possenniskie. In the name of research these two beer lovers have spent the last three years immersed within the secretive inner sanctum of the brewing world, tasting more than 2,000 different beers, in 70-plus different styles, from over 50 countries. Yeastie Boys are now set to unleash this research with a series of seasonal beers unlike anything else the New Zealand beer drinking public have tasted. Stay tuned…

Pot Kettle Black by Yeastie Boys
Tech info: ABV = 5.2%, OG = 1061, IBU = 47
Malt: NZ Pale Malt, Melanoiden Malt, Crystal 55L, Pale Chocolate, Black Patent Malt.
Hops: Nelson Sauvin, New Zealand Styrian, Organic New Zealand Cascade.

For further information please contact:
info@yeastieboys.co.nz

Yeastie Boys: The Beginning

The child of many late night discussions over a pint or three, the day came when Stu and I brewed our first commercial beer. The big day happened, of all places, down at the bottom of the country, at the Invercargill Brewery. Under the stewardship of one of the best brewers in NZ - Steve Nally - we turned one of Stu's favourite recipes into a 1200 litre commercial brew.

Pot Kettle Black is in the style of an American Brown Ale, likely to be around 5.7%, with a chocolately malt palate with a serious orangey hop bite. This will be a hoppy beer to test the Kiwi palate.

The brewing itself is relatively simple exercise. First step was to unload the 360kg of malt into the miller to break up the husks. The milled malt is then put into the mash tun, where the malt is mixed with water at a temperature of 68 degrees to create the 'mash'. The temperature of the water is important, as it dictates the degree to which the starches from the malt are converted into sugars. The mash is then sparged (rinsed) and filtered before the liquid - called the 'wort' - is pumped into the kettle to boil. The wort was boiled for 90 minutes to sterilise it and prevent infections. It is during the boil that we added our 3 varieties of hops, giving our beer it bitterness, flavour and aroma characteristics. After the boil is finished, the wort needs to be quickly cooled to around 20 degrees on its way into the fermenter (again to prevent infection, as well as other off-flavours that occur at high temperatures and to achieve the optimum temperature for 'yeastie' activity). Once into the fermenter, we 'pitched' the yeast into the brew, which over the past couple of weeks has been turning those sugars extracted form the malt into alcohol. Since then, Steve has transferred our beer into a conditioning tank, where Pot Kettle Black will be finished off.

So now Pot Kettle Black is only a couple of weeks away from release - planned for the Beervana festival at Brew NZ in Wellington, September 5 & 6. The 1200 litres will be keg-only, and as well as the beer festival, will be available at some of the best independent bars and pubs in NZ. I'm looking forward to a taste - I hope you are too.

Ponsonby Cafe Files: People Cafe

If you didn't look hard enough, you wouldn't know People Cafe was there at all. But being hidden on the bottom floor of a modern office building doesn't seem to be holding this cafe back. Inside it is all modern and minimalist, with some jazz being played overhead. No Allpress coffee, but still the beans here were strong. Anna and I were both lured by the hash cakes, which were good - though I was thankful I asked for the Hollandaise sauce on the side (Anna's was swimming in it - which would be great if that was your thing).

Definitely a cool spot for a weekend brunch.

Walkabout: Te Atatu Peninsula

On a warm and sunny Auckland Sunday and with Mum up for the weekend, we decided to walk off the delicious dinner from the night before with a walk around Te Atatu Peninsula. If like me, you main memories of Te Atatu was their league team thrashing it out against Wainuiomata in the old national competition, you probably thinking of it as a strange destination for a Sunday walk. And it's true, some parts of Te Atatu do closely resemble the West Auckland of Outrageous Fortune. But the eastern side of peninsula also affords some stunning views back over the city, as well as walking through mangroves and wetlands with plenty of cabbage trees, pukekoes and fantails.









To complete the loop walk of the peninsula (a quite tiring 11kms), we also got a good look at some of Te Atatu's 'urban scenery', with some spectacular over-grown lawns and cars in the back yard with no wheels and on blocks. Though there was one feature that caught my eye...

Motuihe Island

Bad weather closing in. Rain and stronger winds forecast for later in the day. What better thing to do on such a Saturday as cruise out to one of the islands in the Hauraki Gulf for a walk and picnic. Well, that's exactly what we did this weekend.

As by way of explanation, we had credit to use that was about to expire after, of course, numerous stunning weekends in recent weeks to use it. Nevertheless, this was our last chance to use the credit, and despite low scudding clouds and a touch of dampness in the air, we decided to head out to Motuihe Island.

Motuihe Island is just a small island about a 30 minute trip from downtown Auckland, and after a diverse and interesting history, is now a DOC-controlled reserve. At various times in its past, Motuihe has been home to Maori pa settlements, farming, a quarantine station for 50 years, an internment camp for German nationals in WWI, and a navy training ground. However, since 2005, DOC has managed the island, eradicating pests and starting a native planting programme. Native species are also to be reintroduced to the island - Saddlebacks and Kakariki having been so already - and Kiwis are set to be released next year. Motuihe is also renowned for having some of the finest sandy beaches around Auckland.

Of course, on the shortest day of the year, taking advantage of the beaches wasn't a priority for us. Staying dry was one - though that fear turned out to be unfounded. Arriving at the island just before 10am, Rae, Tom, Anna and I had nearly 5 hours before we had to return to the wharf to catch the ferry back. This proved the perfect amount of time to walk around and enjoy the island. The island doesn't have the natural beauty of Tiritiri Matangi - yet - but still occupies a great scenic spot in the middle of Hauraki Gulf. From the vantage points of cliff tops and beaches, there are numerous views of Auckland landmarks like Rangitoto Island, Waiheke Island with the Coromandel in the distance, and Auckland City itself. Of course, that was when the misty showers allowed us to see them. Though despite the showers passing through the harbour, Motuihe seemed to dodge most of them and we were left virtually untouched by the weather. As well as the views, the island itself is plenty interesting enough. Apart from the young plots of native plantings, there are also some old gnarly trees, especially in a coastal strip aptly named the Old Forest. We didn't come across a Tom Bombadil unfortunately, but we did share our walk with plenty of Pukekoes, who did a surprising amount of flying.

With enough time to picnic by the beach and wander the remnants of gun placements and navy base, we were much relieved to rest our weary feet as the ferry returned at 2.30pm, most satisfied that we had dared the weather and made the most of the day.